War Resisters' International, International Conference Ahmedabad, India, 22 - 25 January, 2010
Background
This was the third International Conference of War Resisters' International held in India, the previous two being in 1960 and 1985. The local hosts were organisations well rooted in the social movement history of India and with whom WRI has had a fruitful tradition of cooperation. They were:
Despite the bad weather thousands of Bombspotters have gathered in Kleine Brogel today to denounce the illegal nuclear policy of the Belgian government. They responded to the appeal of Vredesactie and were not intimidated by the massive presence of police and military personnel, kilometres of barbwire, several helicopters and guard dogs that were being deployed in order to try to keep the illegal nuclear policy in place.
Actions for nuclear disarmament at nuclear weapon bases all over Europe
Overview on http://www.bombspotting.org
During the Easter weekend peace organisations all over Europe are staging actions at nuclear weapon bases and command centres, as part of a European Day of Action against nuclear weapons. One month prior to the NPT (Non-Proliferation Treaty) Review Conference, peace movements in all the European countries with nuclear weapons on their territory (Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Turkey and the UK) are sending one message: it is time for nuclear disarmament. The continuing deployment of nuclear weapons does not provide more security, but rather encourages the proliferation of nuclear weapons.
Up to eight hundred anti-nuclear campaigners from England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and a number of other countries joined a blockade of the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) at Aldermaston in Berkshire from just before 7am in the morning. Every gate was closed by blockaders in the course of the morning. Twenty-six arrests were reported, on suspicion of criminal trespass (for entering the site) and highway obstruction.
Campaigners plan to shut down nuclear bomb factory as they call for disarmament of Trident and abolition of nuclear weapons
15 pacifists made their way into the NATO Response Force HQ of Bétera (Valencia, Spain), after jumping the base safety fences in an act of civil disobedience
This past Saturday, November 28th, around a hundred antimilitarist activists from Bilbao, Salamanca, Elche, Alicante, Zaragoza, Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia gathered in the Valencian town of Bétera - at 3 km from
Trident Ploughshares Press Release 17 November, 2009 - For immediate release
This issue of The Broken Rifle is the last in a series of two devoted to WRI's upcoming International Conference: “Nonviolent Livelihood Struggle and Global Militarism: Links & Strategies”.
By coming to India, WRI is coming back to one of its reference points as a pacifist network. But returning to India also brings up the opportunity to make new connections, both thematically and geographically.
President Obama smiled at Manmohan Singh (India's Prime Minister), Secretary of State Hilary Clinton invited him over for lunch, the World Bank President certified his economic vision, and the IMF chief patted his back for leading his country on the path of sustained growth. That's India's arrival on the world stage. Never mind the 150 000+ farmers' suicides. Forget the millions displaced without rehabiliation over the last 50 years. Ignore the fact that the State acts as an agent and
The English arrived, Mr Englishman arrived in Chagos,
The English arrived, the English uprooted us, cut off our food supply,
I will not forget,
Never, I will not forget my family,
The whistle blew three times to board the Mauritius,
It dumped us in Mauritius.
I will not forget,
Never, I will not forget my mother,
I will not forget those we left there in the cemetery.
CONAMURI, as the acronym indicates, is the national coordination which groups together rural and indigenous women’s workers’ organisations, the first of its kind in Paraguay. On 15 October - the International day of the rural woman - CONAMURI celebrated their tenth anniversary during and their Fifth National Conference under the title “A decade sewing the seeds of hope, constructing equality”
Echoing and heeding the call from Dr. Kenneth David Kaunda, first president of Zambia, to “redouble our efforts for justice and for a true African humanism,” the two of us, as editors and authors of Seeds of New Hope: Pan African Peace Studies for the 21st Century (2009) and the forthcoming Seeds Bearing Fruit: Pan African Peace Action, do affirm the great potential of the peoples of Africa.